Gem and jewellery council eyes $60 bn exports by 2022

‘Vision Document’ suggesting reforms ready for submission

The Gem & Jewellery Exports Promotion Council (GJEPC) has prepared a ‘Vision Document’ to achieve an exports target of $60 billion by 2022, said a top official. “I was asked by the Prime Minister to submit a ‘Vision Document’ to see to take the industry to a high level. I have already created a ‘Vision Document’ 2022. I am submitting it to the government,” Praveen Shankar Pandya, chairman, GJEPC, said on the sidelines of the ongoing India International Jewellery Show (IIJS) 2017 here.

The ‘Vision Document’ suggests several measures to achieve the target.

“It suggests several infrastructural changes, some tax reforms and some procedural changes. There are 20 to 30 measures in this,” Mr. Pandya said.

“We also want to be the leader in jewellery in the world market apart from diamond. Currently, our exports are to the tune of $43 billion and by 2022 we want to achieve $60 billion. By 2025, another $20 billion,” he said.

For this year, the industry has a growth target of 10%. “We are on track and we will achieve $47 billion exports this year,” he added.

Meanwhile, to enable marginal and small industry players to contribute to exports, the government has identified 16 clusters to set up common facility centres where modern machines would be provided.

“We have plans to set up six such facilities in Gujarat. 10 more will come up in Coimbatore, Tiruchirappalli, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Delhi and Jaipur,” said Manoj Dwivedi, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce & Industry.

“The jewellery industry needs to achieve higher scale to become globally competitive and provide an impetus to jewellery exports. The government is taking various policy initiatives to find ways to improve things,” he said. Plans are also afoot to jewellery parks on the lines of IT parks across India in prominent gems and jewellery clusters.

Mr. Dwivedi said IIJS had emerged as a major platform for promotion of Indian jewellery across the globe. While more than 1,200 exhibitors from India are showcasing their products, visitors have come from 80 countries including the U.K., U.S., China, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, Jordan, Iran, Bangladesh and Malaysia.